As a partnering organization, FHSSA is unique in that it initiates, maintains and sustains active relationships between frontline organizations in Africa and the United States.  These relationships provide a clear, practical understanding of the need, and the environment in which the work is done.

In the US, hospice and palliative care is defined as holistic, comfort-oriented, care for patients with advanced illness and their families. Hospice and palliative care in Africa is similar in philosophy. In contrast, hospice and palliative care in Africa is impacted by unique social, economic and environmental conditions and must also include care and support for orphans, vulnerable children, and others in the community who are disproportionately affected by AIDS, cancer and other diseases.

“The world is now a global village.” This is what American and African colleagues realized when they first met in the 1990’s at international hospice conferences and at visits to each other’s programs.   Both the African and US hospice organizations shared deep roots in the British hospice movement, and a commitment to quality and access.

It was a professional seminar tour to hospices in Zimbabwe and South Africa in 1999, however, that helped US hospice leaders realize the tremendous impact that the burgeoning AIDS pandemic was having on African hospice leaders and their programs.  


To support Africa’s hospice and palliative care programs, Bernice Catherine Harper and US hospice leaders decided to form a non-profit organization that could mobilize US hospice response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic as it was impacting sub-Saharan Africa.  As a result, the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa was incorporated and housed in New York State.  In 2004, FHSSA joined the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in Alexandria, Virginia.   As an affiliate of NHPCO, FHSSA is able to connect with membership and expand its impact in both the US and Africa.

Together with their African partners, American hospices have learned much about cultural diversity, community bereavement, defining palliative care, health disparities, volunteer engagement, community linkages, and other essential aspects of hospice operations in the US. Meaningful Partnerships take on limitless forms, linking African hospices not only with US hospice organizations, but also with government and private grant making entities as well as US universities and other organizations who share in FHSSA’s mission.

Learn more about FHSSA’s Decade of Impact.